California Towhee Nest

Feeding the Babies

For several weeks now, we've been watching a pair of California Towhees hop up on our garden wall and then disappear into the dense Star Jasmine shrub along the side of the garage.

Eventually it dawned on us that they probably had a nest inside the shrub and were going in and out to feed the babies.  

We've called this bird the "Squeaky Wheel Bird" for years because of its persistent high-pitched chirp; it can be kind of annoying at times because it just doesn't stop.  We've also watched them scratching around in the vegetable garden for seeds, insects and worms and even seen them hop up under the rose bushes in the front yard to dislodge aphids from the underside of the rose leaves; they're welcome to all the aphids they can eat.

However, it's been fun watching this pair of birds take care of their nest.  The parent birds seem to vary the diet they're feeding the young ones; they seem to be alternating between seed they pick up under the bird feeder, worms scavenged from Cindy's raised beds and suet from the suet feeder.  Cindy also left the last few blueberries on one of the blueberry bushes and left it outside the bird netting for the birds, so maybe they're getting a few of those as well.